This project originates in a residency of several years the composer undertook at St John’s College, Cambridge. At its heart are four choral works that reimagine specific pieces in the college’s repertory, ranging from Taverner to Bach, each of which is twinned with an instrumental (usually organ) commentary. As a cycle it’s so admirably balanced that one can take the whole thing in at a sitting. The Bachian cantata at the centre (in which organ and choir join forces with a flute and violin) is flanked by the substantial a cappella anthems and their no less substantial organ ‘doubles’.

The relation to the source material, revisited with each piece, is fascinating in itself. The cantata sticks most closely to its model but the twists and turns of its local handling keep one guessing. In what feels like a deliberately provocative gesture, the beginning of the commentary preceding it (on Wie schön leuchtet die Morgenstern) flirts with naivety, which is playfully and subtly defused. Elsewhere, the range of stylistic references is vast, ranging from a kind of (happily) deconstructed Duruflé to Donatoni, via a ‘textural parody’ of Taverner’s Dum transisset at the very start. It means that while there’s ‘something for everyone’, there’s something likely to irritate everyone as well. I suspect that’s how Finnissy likes it.

It’s great, in the first place, for an institution of this type to have approached a composer whose demands were always likely to challenge it. The Choir of St John’s College rise to those challenges gamely, their advocacy naturally essential to the success of the project. And it is a success. The Taverner parody and its organ double seem to me especially fine, both as compositions and performances. The soloists in the Bach cantata acquit themselves admirably too, though the bass’s unwavering introduction of vibrato after each attack gets a touch distracting. The ending of the organ double on Plebs angelica – the cycle’s final gesture – consummate the chordal material that runs through everything that has preceded: a thrilling conclusion.